Basketball
Getting to mid-January undefeated in college basketball carries a lot of weight and it is very hard to maintain perfection in the modern age. There’s a reason that no team since the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers have finished a men’s college basketball season undefeated, and that squad only had to get to 32 wins to finish the job, which is the equivalent of a full regular season and one conference tournament game today.
The latest victim of the grind of the college hoops season is No. 2 Iowa State, which entered the week 16-0 and lost two road games to take a big hit to their aura of invincibility. While there’s no question the Cyclones are looking like a trendy down pick for stock watchers, how far will Iowa State fall in the next AP Top 25 poll?
Projected AP Top 25 college basketball rankings
1. Arizona Wildcats
2. UConn Huskies
3. Michigan Wolverines
4. Purdue Boilermakers
5. Duke Blue Devils
6. Nebraska Cornhuskers
7. Houston Cougars
8. Iowa State Cyclones
9. Gonzaga Bulldogs
10. Michigan State Spartans
11. Illinois Fighting Illini
12. BYU Cougars
13. Texas Tech Red Raiders
14. Virginia Cavaliers
15. Alabama Crimson Tide
16. Florida Gators
17. Clemson Tigers
18. Vanderbilt Commodores
19. Arkansas Razorbacks
20. Kansas Jayhawks
21. Louisville Cardinals
22. Saint Louis Billikens
23. Miami (Ohio) Redhawks
24. Georgia Bulldogs
25. Wisconsin Badgers
Kansas blows out Iowa State at Allen Fieldhouse
There may not be a bigger result that came from this week than seeing Kansas get its mojo back with a dominant win over the Cyclones at Allen Fieldhouse. The performance was as complete a game as the Jayhawks have played in months, shooting over 50 percent from the floor and knocking down 12 3-point attempts to win going away against the previously-unbeaten Cyclones.
Kansas was able to build on that win with another home blowout against Baylor on Friday night, which should help them get back into the polls this week. Iowa State had a hangover that carried over into a sloppy loss at Cincinnati on Saturday that should drop them outside the Top 5 this week.
UConn survives at Seton Hall
The Big East sure looked like it was becoming the UConn Invitational this season as the No. 3 Huskies have performed as the league’s best team by far entering Tuesday night’s trip to No. 25 Seton Hall. Shaheen Halloway’s Pirates gave the Huskies everything they could handle, mounting a furious second half comeback that fell just short in a 69-64 defeat on Saturday.
The victory allowed UConn to improve to 7-0 in conference play and sets them up to be No. 2 in the polls behind Arizona, which handed them their only loss earlier this season in Storrs. Things didn’t progress as well for Seton Hall, which followed up that game with a tough loss to Butler that has stalled some of the early momentum the Pirates built to earn their ranking.
Florida takes down Vanderbilt
Surging Florida continued its red-hot run through the SEC this week with another two victories, both of which came on the road. The headliner was Saturday’s 98-94 win at No. 10 Vanderbilt, which put up a game effort after seeing their unbeaten season come to an end earlier in the week with a 16-point road defeat at Texas.
A resurgent offense has powered the No. 19 Gators, who are averaging 90.8 points per game over their past nine games. Florida has gone 8-1 in that span and now looks like one of the favorites to win the SEC at this juncture.
Clemson wins early ACC statement game against Miami
One of the more underrated games from Saturday’s slate saw No. 22 Clemson put its eight-game winning streak on the line against Miami, which is off to a fast start of its own under first-year head coach Jai Lucas. Home court advantage proved to be the difference for the Tigers, who won 69-59 to improve to 6-0 in ACC play.
Three different players scored in double figures for Clemson, who saw saw junior forward Carter Welling lead the way with 18 points and nine rebounds. Recent struggles from North Carolina and Louisville, which went a combined 1-3 this week, have positioned Brad Brownell’s team to be the top challenger to No. 6 Duke for ACC supremacy in the regular season.
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